Notes of Interest

English 498 (Senior Seminar) is designed
to provide an opportunity for students, working
closely with
a professor, to do advanced work in an area of special interest. The
seminar topics reflect current forms of literary
and cultural study
across the full range of the English department curriculum. Enrollment
in each seminar is limited to 17 students and registration is restricted
to senior majors only. ENGL 498 is required of all
students who declared an English major between Autumn 1994 and Spring
2005, and may not be taken more than once for credit. (Students following
the 1994 - 2005 requirements may take a senior capstone course in lieu of
ENGL 498.)

Please note: This schedule, as with all schedules established
so far in advance, is tentative and subject to change
(especially section letters, days and times, but also instructors
and/or topics). Be sure to check this page for updated information
prior to the quarter you wish to register for a senior seminar.

Summer 2006

497/498aA (Honors Senior Seminar/Senior Seminar) W
MW 10:50-1:00
Simpsoncsimpson@u.washington.eduThe Graphic Novel? As a descriptive term for a popular form of visual
storytelling, ‘graphic novel’ is both inadequate and misleading.
Most aren’t novels at all but often an odd mix of autobiography, personal
essay, travel narrative, and historiography, and there is currently little in
the way of a critical account of the cultural politics of the form. Yet statistics
seem to indicate that the ‘graphic novel’ is the most widely read
and circulated (arguably ‘literary’), global genre of writing or
storytelling. With almost nothing to go on, aside from a few scattered theoretical
readings, we will attempt to construct our own sense of how, if, and in what
regard, the ‘graphic novel’ matters as a form of literature. How,
as well as when, should it be regarded as a ‘literary’ text or
form? What historical or cultural conditions seem to have created its power
as a popular
reading genre at the end of the twentieth century? Texts may include: Jimmy
Corrigan; Palestine; Persepolis; Epileptic; and Blankets.
This list is tentative, so please check the UW bookstore later for a final list.

Autumn 2006

498 A (Senior Seminar)
MW 9:30-11:20
(W)
Bursteinjb2@u.washington.edu Privacy. This course will investigate literary versions of keeping
it to yourself. The recurrent topic will be what it means to be a self with
secrets;
how erotics is registered, legislated, and curtailed by interiority – and
what may or may not be its obverse: publicity and theatricality; and the limits
and expanses of individualism. The historical focus will be 19th- and 20th-century
literature, with emphasis on the latter. This will be a reading-intensive course,
and discussion is required, in flagrant defiance of the mimetic.

We will begin in the 19th century, with Kierkegaard’s “Diary of
a Seducer,” make a pass at or through Durkheim’s anomie,
and, after some forays which I cannot divulge here, end with the fabulously
disgusting literary sensation, “The Elementary Particles” (alternately
translated as “Atomised”) by the eminently irritating and alas
interesting French novelist Michel Houellebecq. There will quite possibly be
a section on (literary) diaries (ballast provided by Thomas Mallon, with Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes, and Bridget Jones’s Diary as instances
of self-inqiry); the performance and purchase of monogamy’s violation
(Adam Phillips, Laura Kipness); Dorothy Parker on keeping your trap shut as
a version of the lyric poem; Julian Barnes (Talking it Over); and
gossip. Too, we might do Noel Coward’s Private Lives, something
by the perennially if not painfully subtle Anita Brookner, and what would privacy
be without Henry James?

This class sounds fun, and it should be. Do not, however, flatter yourself
that it will be easy. Privacy demands concentration, and this course will call
upon audible, applied, and public forms of that enterprise. Warning: the Houellebecq
novel is sexually explicit, and often cartoonishly misogynist; do not take
this course if you are put off by such renderings. NOTE: if you have suggestions
for reading, email me (jb2@u.washington.edu).
Senior English majors only.

498 E (Senior Seminar)
TTh 10:30-12:20 (W)
Liu msmliu@u.washington.eduContemporary Visual Culture. This seminar will examine how our sense
of self in contemporary culture is rooted in a visual existence. We are surrounded
by a wealth of visual data, but rarely do we focus on how this information
comes to be synonymous with what is natural and transparent, or how we derive
pleasure and meaning from a constant data stream of manufactured images. We
will draw material from such diverse sources as film, advertising, art, literature,
cyberspace, and travel writing. In addition to becoming conversant with the
major theories that inform visual studies, you will be responsible for producing
a final research project that will be presented to the class. Some of the central
questions we will examine this quarter are: who has the power or permission
to be seen? Does visibility equate to political power? How is our understanding
of space, nation, and community related to how we see? Senior English majors
only. Texts: Nella Larsen, Passing; Nicholas Mirzoeff,
ed, Visual Culture Reader; Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly;
Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code.

498 F (Senior Seminar)
TTh 11:30-1:20
(W)
Cherniavsky ec22@u.washington.eduCultural Politics of Nationalism. The study of literature and of culture
is traditionally bound to nationality (e.g., we study “American fiction” or “French
Cinema”). In recent years, this nationalist approach to literary and
cultural study has come under considerable scrutiny, as writers and critics
have begun to ask what is lost and gained by this way of conceptualizing cultures.
This line of inquiry gains added traction in the present moment, where we witness
on the one hand a proliferation of global or transnational cultural institutions,
media, and practices, and on the other hand the (re)newed life of ethnic or
cultural nationalisms (e.g., black nationalism, queer nation, and other forms
of nationalist mobilization that are expressly antagonistic toward the institutions
and policies of established nation-states). This course will engage a set of
(relatively) contemporary literary, visual, and critical materials that interrogate
the idea of national cultures, and the cultural work we perform under the rubric
of nationality. Separately and collectively, these materials invite reflection
on the histories of nationalism, its tenacity, and it uncertain futures. Materials
for the course will likely include Paul Beatty, White Boy Shuffle,
Ana Castillo, So Far From God, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, New World
Border, Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters, the films Blade Runner (Ridley
Scott) and Traffic (Steven Soderbergh), and a packet of critical writings
by Benedict Anderson, Anne McClintock, Roger Rouse, Arjun Appadurai, Stuart
Hall, Arif Dirlik, and others. In addition to short responses and in-class
writings, work for the course will include an annotated bibliography, an in-class
presentation, and a substantial research paper (12-15 pages). Senior English
majors only. Texts: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities;
Paul Beatty, The White Boy Shuffle; Ana Castillo, So Far From
God; Guillermo Gomez-Pena, The New World Border; Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters.

498 G (Senior Seminar)
TTh 1:30-3:20
(W)
Allen callen@u.washington.eduLoving / Hating / Reading / Fiction. This is a seminar in the weird
pleasures, wild emotions, and secret seductions of reading fiction. How, exactly,
do we take in fiction? How much control does the author have over how the reader
feels while reading? Do we read differently when we’re reading across
gender or sexuality or ethnicity? Why do some readers choose puzzle novels
while others prefer love stories? Can we love novels if they are about things
we hate? How do films read stories differently from books? Do we identify with
characters who seem in many ways to e our opposites? We’ll read modern
and contemporary fictions to try to get some tentative answers to these questions.
Discussion will be at the heart of what we do, so come expecting lots of talk
and lively differences of opinions. You’ll be thinking on paper too,
in short responses and a longer seminar paper. Senior English majors only.

Winter 2007

498 D (Senior Seminar) 12/18: NOTE NEW INSTRUCTOR,
TOPIC
MW 1:30-3:20
Coldewey
(W)jcjc@u.washington.eduPre-Renaissance Drama. In this course we will examine varieties
of English drama written before and leading up to Shakespeare, including
the complete Chester Cycle, a number of non-cycle plays, morality plays and
Tudor interludes. We will formulate some ways of approaching these playtexts:
as cultural markers, as expressions of civic identity, as spectacular performative
ventures, as intellectual parents and children during eras of change, as
contemplative texts for reading, and as really good plays. Senior ENGL majors
only. Meets w. ENGL 516A. Texts: David Mills (ed.). The
Chester Mystery Cycle; John Coldewey (ed.). Early English Drama:
An Anthology; Albert Labriola and John Smeltz (eds.). The Bible
of the Poor (Biblia Pauperum): A Facsimile and Edition of the British Library
Blockbook C.9.d.2; Michael Camille. Image on the Edge; Victor
Turner. From Ritual to Theatre.

498 E (Senior Seminar)
TTh 9:30-11:20
Ibrahim
(W)New Black Aesthetics. What cultural, theoretical and political trends
inform black literary production at the end of the twentieth century, or in
the era to come after the civil rights movement, the black cultural nationalist
movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, and integration? In this course, our
primary goal will be to examine how various “postmodern” texts—marked
in part by the shifting terrain of race in America—take a look back toward
earlier forms of black culture and aesthetics. Many of the texts to be considered
make self-conscious efforts to re-represent history, the meaning of black identity,
and the conditions of community. As we engage this literature, we will consider
how it addresses both past and present circumstances, and whether we can discern
a “new” black aesthetics. Required texts are likely to include:
Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo; Octavia Butler, Kindred, Andrea
Lee, Sarah Philips; George Wolfe, The Colored Museum; Trey
Ellis, Platitudes; Jewelle Gomez, The Gilda Stories; Colson
Whitehead, The Intuitionist. Texts likely to be available on E-Reserve:
Linda Hutcheon, The Politics of Postmodernism (excerpts); Manning
Marable, “From Freedom to Equality: The Politics of Race and Class”;
Cornel West, “The Postmodern Crisis of the Black Intellectuals”;
bell hooks, “Postmodern Blackness”; Mark Anthony Neal, Soul
Babies (excerpts).

498 G (Senior Seminar)
TTh 11:30-1:20
Modiano
(W)modiano@u.washington.eduGift, Sacrifice, and Literary Identity in Coleridge and Wordsworth. In this
seminar we will study the literary relationship of Coleridge and Wordsworth
who, as one critic remarked, “not only pervasively influenced one another,
they did so in a way that challenges ordinary methods of assessment.” We
will begin with a study of contemporary theories of gift exchanges and sacrifice,
which will highlight major themes in Coleridge’s and Wordsworth’s
poetry and offer a new model of interpreting their unusual collaboration. We
will then proceed with a close examination of Coleridge’s and Wordsworth’s
work, focusing on periods in which they found themselves in close competition
with one another. For example, while early on Coleridge wrote successful nature
poetry and Wordsworth wrote moving stories of human suffering and social injustice,
after their collaboration on the Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth turned
to the philosophy of the mind’s relationship with nature, while Coleridge
started to explore the effects of supernaturalism on agents caught in a world
that no longer makes sense in terms of orthodox Christian theology. What will
emerge from this seminar is a clear sense that Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s
careers were profoundly shaped by what each took to be the identity of the
other, often misconceived through the distorting lens of self-projections.
We will also compare multiple versions of a few major works by Coleridge and
Wordsworth (such as Wordsworth’s “Salisbury Plain” poems
and The Prelude and Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”),
which are an important source of understanding the origins and nature of their
literary collaboration. Senior ENGL majors only. Texts: Wordsworth, Selected
Poetry (ed. Roe); Coleridge, Poetry and Prose.

498 H (Senior Seminar)
TTh 1:30-3:20
Vance
(W)Love and the Social Bond in the Middle Ages, The goal of this course
is to study the tension between individual erotic passion (whatever its form
of expression) and the constraints of the family, feudal society, and religion.
We will address these questions by reading a selection of examples of works
written between the 12th and 14th centuries: preceded by the Old Testament Song
of Songs as a foundation for medieval understandings of desire. This will
be followed by two stories of virgin martyrs, a selection of Provençal
and French courtly lyric poems, one or two courtly romances, (Tristan and
Iseut;Yvain, and/or the Knight of the Lion, by Chrétien
de Troyes), Dante’s Vita Nuova, Chaucer’s “Wife
of Bath’s Tale,” the “Pardoner’s Tale,” and an
unusual spiritual love letter by St. Catherine of Siena. All readings will
be based on English translations, but students will be encouraged to read whatever
writings they can in their original language.

Here are a few of the questions we will address:

• What is the relationship between courtly desire and medieval misogyny?
• What necessary link is there between sexual desire and sin?
• How is homoerotic desire understood and expressed in medieval letters?
• Can men and women of differing social ranks or classes properly love
each other?
• What is the relationship between courtly love and chivalric combat in
medieval romance?
• What are the social purposes of marriage in medieval society?
• What are the consequences, real or imagined, of adultery in medieval
literature?
• What place does wealth have in courtly erotic desire?
• Can there such a phenomenon as truly spiritual or sacred erotic desire?
• Can men and women desire the Virgin Mary or the flesh of Christ?

Undergraduate students will be evaluated according to: their participation
(30%), two short papers, 5-8 pp. (40%) and a take-home quiz (30%) at the
end of the course. Senior ENGL majors only. Meets w. ENGL 516B, C LIT 496A;
FRENCH 411, FRENCH 591. Taught by Prof. Eugene Vance, French & Italian
Studies.

Spring 2007

498 B (Senior Seminar)
MW 9:30-11:20
Wong
(W)homebase@u.washington.eduScreenwriting for Readers & Writers. This seminar is designed for
both creative writers and those who don’t consider themselves writers but
think of themselves as critical readers. The class will study films adapted from
short stories, examine the screenwriting process and, through small group collaboration,
write a screenplay adaptation of a short story. Text: Paul Argentini,
Elements of Style for Screenwriters.

“Is it not a pleasure to learn and to repeat or practice from time to
time what has been learned?” –Confuscius

“Fictions are for finding things out, and they change as the needs of
sense-making change.” –Frank Kermode, The Sense of an Ending:
Studies in the Theory of Fiction

“Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction has to make sense.” --favorite
adage of former Seattle DJ team

This seminar focuses on three primary texts: a late 20th-century consideration
of what schools are for, Neil Postman’s The End of Education: Redefining
the Value of School; a writer’s meditation about ways of knowing
and being, John Fowles’ The Tree; and a novel that makes its
own sense of individual and collective American life, post-Vietnam, John Irving’s A
Prayer for Owen Meany. This seminar will provide opportunity for reflective
as well as critical conversation and writing, and both creative writing and
literature/culture majors are welcome. Senior English majors only, registration
periods 1 & 2. Texts: Postman, The End of Education;
Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany; Fowles, The Tree (note:
the Bookstore may not be able to acquire used copies of Fowles’ The
Tree; therefore please try to purchase from on line –google author
and title for available copies.)

498 L (Senior Seminar)
TTh 10:30-12:20
Karl
(W)agkarl@u.washington.eduConsuming Literature, Literary Consumption. Love, money desire, consummation,
shopping: in this course we will delve into the pleasures and delusions of
consumption. Starting in the late nineteenth century when department stores
brought mass-consumerism to cities in Europe and the United States, we’ll
investigate how consumption is a key trope in literature, and by which we read
literature throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. We’ll
consider consumption broadly as an economic, emotional, corporeal, and historical
concept – and one that simultaneously encapsulates mundane, everyday
activities (buying coffee, eating lunch, cruising the mall) and global economic
and political conditions. We will follow these various notions in and through
literature to evaluate how consumption and consumerism develop and change,
and to ask just how prominently they matter. Some of the ideas, debates and
phenomena we’ll trace include how anxieties over the cultural impact
of mass-consumerism and consumer capital emerge in literary texts; how consumption
and circulation condition national, gendered and racial identities and histories;
whether love and desire are forms of consumption, and what it means to be consumed
by one’s desires; how literature itself is consumed as a commodity in
the marketplace and as stories that have cultural staying-power. Be prepared
for a brisk reading pace, regular writing and collaborative assignments, and
an annotated bibliography and substantial research paper at the end of the
quarter. Senior English majors only, Registration Periods 1 & 2. Texts: Emile
Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise; F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great
Gatsby; Djuna Barnes, Nightwood; Guy Debord, The Society
of the Spectacle; Jean Rhys, Good Morning, Midnight; Monique
Truong, The Book of Salt; Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’ Diary.

498 M (Senior Seminar)
TTh 12:30-2:20
Johnson-Bogart
(W)kbogart@u.washington.eduMapping the Reader’s Journey. We book lovers have had our hearts stolen,
been transported to a different place by at least one book. Because you can
never take the same journey twice, rereading a beloved book can be revelatory,
of the reader as well as the book. In this course we’ll attend to the
process of reading, exploring the difference between first readings and subsequent
readings, discovering how the book is never the same and how we change as readers
trekking across readings and through time. In addition to Anne Fadiman’s
Rereadings, a collection of essays by diverse writers on the surprises and
insights rereading brings, Italo Calvino’s compound positioning of the
reader in If on a winter’s night a traveler, and a few articles, you
will work closely with a book you choose. Writing assignments will include
regular reflective exercises to log your journeys, as well as formal arguments
you develop through rereading and revision. To prepare for this class, think
carefully about which old love you want to revisit again for a few weeks. A
book you read several years ago when you were in another time and place, and
one about which you’ve already done some writing will be a good choice.
Hopefully, neither of you will get through your reunion unchanged and you,
dear traveler, will have a deepened appreciation for who you are as a reader
and the role reading can play in your present and future journey. Texts: Anne
Fadiman, Rereadings; Italo Calvino, If On a Winter’s Night
a Traveler.

498N (Senior Seminar)
TTh 1:30-3:20
Dean
(W)gnodean@u.washington.eduAdded 2/14; sln: 12792Circa 1900: Transitional Realisms. How did resourceful, independent
Huckleberry
Finn grow up to become Benjy Compson, the wise-fool "idiot" narrator
of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury? How did late nineteenth-century
American literary values, which emphasized everyday life and everyday folks,
transform in just a few decades to accommodate the experimental forms and perspectives
of modernist writers like Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot and Zora
Neale Hurston? In this class, we will investigate the pronounced cultural change
that occurred across the divide of the twentieth century by examining its roots,
through several clusters of "realist" texts produced around the year
1900. Our first "case study" involves Henry James and the perceptual
uncertainties of novels such as The Turn of the Screw (1898) and What
Maisie
Knew (1897), along with several longish short stories, texts by James' literary
associates, nineteenth-century psychologists, critical essays and some examples
of visual art. Our second "case study" focuses on Charles Chesnutt
and the ambiguities of the color line, via his novel The Marrow of Tradition(1901)
and his stories of the color line (1899), alongside other stories about racial
identity and conflict, critical essays, and examples from popular journalism,
photography and anthropology similarly concerned with race and its elusive "definitions." In
the final third of the quarter, students will compile their own "case study" of
another set of texts circa 1900, working individually and in groups. Overall,
our aim is to query the idea of "realism" and its capacity to generate
radically different approaches to representation. This class should be especially
useful (and fun) for students of literary history, cultural studies, modernism
and nineteenth-century American literature, but will also satisfy those who simply
like to read deeply. Texts: Henry James, What Maisie Knew;
The Turn of the Screw
(with The Aspern
Papers and Two Stories); Charles Chesnut, Conjure Tales and Stories
of the Color
Line; The Marrow of Tradition.